F 27 
.Y6 Y7 

V. 1 

no. 1 
Copy 1 




Institute Publicatioiis. 



VOL. 1. NO. 1. 



YOM^INSTITETE 



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\^ SOMETHING OF ITS PAST, PRESENT AND 



FUTURE, 



BY 



B. REDFORD MELCHER. 



SACO, MAINE : 

PRESS OF THE BIDDEFORD JOURNAL. 



INSTITUTE PUBLICATIONS. 

Vol. I. No. I. 



YORK INSTITUTE: 

SOMETHING OF ITS PAST, PRESENT AND 
FUTURE, 

BY 

B. REDFORD MELCHER 

TEN CENTS. 



Other similar societies are requested to exchange 
publications. Address 

Corresponding Secretary, 
York Institute. 

Saco, Me. 



IJ-S BUREAU Ot 



ajr^ iREG'O DEC 7P ) ^^.^\ 



rr. 7- 



TAjl. 




NST 



mD D 



BLICATIOtiS. 



VOL. 1. NO. 1. 






SOMETHING OF ITS PAST, PRESENT AND 



FUTURE, 



BY 



B. REDFORD MELCHER. 



SACO, MAINE: 

PRESS OF THE BIDDEFORD JOURNAL. 

1884. 



YORK INSTITUTE: 
SOMETHlf OF ITS PAST, Pl[ESENT Af(D FUTUI[E. 



Address delivered March 4, 1884, before the Society. 



Ladies and Gentlemen : — 

It is fortunate that the name "York Institute" was 
given to this society. Had it been any less general, 
"York County Historical Society" or "York County Nat- 
ural History Society," the association would have suffered 
by being regarded by some as too narrow in its designs. 
Under the former of these titles a few lovers of nature 
and science would have been repelled, thinking civil and 
political history to be dry, and to them nearly profitless ; 
under the latter, others would have been kept away whose 
fondness was for men, places and events, rather than for 
God's humbler creatures and lower creations. As it is, the 
name is non-committal ; in only one respect pointing to 
the particular, where it seems to confine us somewhat 
closely to whatever concerns York County. In this re- 
spect, however, it is only a seeming. 

No one regards this Institute as an assemblage of indi- 
viduals bent on dealing with special subjects and pet the- 
ories far above the reach of most persons. On the con- 
trary, by the wisdom of its founders, room enough was 



made for all subjects to get a treatment — for all persons 
to have a hearing should any desire to be heard, or 
should any subject seem to require discussion. York 
Institute, notice, is almost the only public place in these 
two cities where a free discourse on anything may be de- 
livered, or where a free debate of any question may be 
had. It affords a grand privilege to all, and it is simply 
surprising that more do not avail themselves of the ad- 
vantage. 

Under the general name, then, of "York Institute" are 
banded together a number of gentlemen, who, while pri- 
marily organizing a scientific society for the collection, 
orderly arrangement, and preservation of samples of ev- 
erything of scientific value belonging to this county, and 
for the regular giving of addresses on any and all scien- 
tific subjects ; also did not forget that man is the chief of 
all created things, and that his history possesses higher 
and greater attractions in proportion as he is higher and 
greater than any of the creatures below him. These gen- 
tlemen, therefore, very wisely enlarged the scope of what 
otherwise might have been only a Museum of Natural 
History, and included as a part of its original design a 
department given to the civil and political history of the 
county, and State ; so that the Institute was prevented 
from becoming special, and, at once, was made general. 
It reaches out in every direction for additions to its many 
collections, and its lectures and conversational discussions 
take a wider range each succeeding year of its existence. 

You have heard that all knowledge is of two kinds, 
classified and unclassified. Not only has York Institute 
desired to have presented classified knowledge, or true 
science ; but also some unclassified knowledge has been 
allowed to creep in among the sayings of this room. For 
example : the remark that "a banyan tree big enough to 
cover the whole of the City of Saco" had b-en seen by 



5 

t»ne -mcTiiljeT, must he put among the many funny things 
of our Institute C!ille(] uiiclassilied. — My own numerous 
■addresses might properlv he consigned to the same list of 
things protniscuons. There, too, the wit and the humoi* 
•of our gatherings belong. 

But when we come to classified knowledge, then we 
reach the field occupied by the Institute. Would that 
this field of science universal might be not only occupied, 
l)ut thoroughly possessed. 

And yet how many things have been well unfolded in 
prepared lectures within these walls. You have here 
*heard mathematical demonstrations by no means easy, and 
Slave seen Ihem explained on the black-board. You have 
listened with clo^e attention to lectures on geographical 
subjects, and have followed the speaker as he led yon 
iiloiig by the help of maps and charts. You have had 
fine astronomical lectures; and, at times, visible illustra^ 
tions of excellent character have accompanied them. The 
«tereopticon has beesi of service more than once. Yoa 
have been entertained in a high degree by some lecturers 
on physics; they taking such a subject as '^Electricity,'"' 
and giving experiments ; or "Heat," or "Sound," and giv- 
ing discussions. Even astrology was once introduced ;; 
and a brisk talk held, years ago, on the question of 
whether the unusual nearness of tour great planets to the 
sun portended commotions, plagues, wars, troublesome 
distresses or — the end of the world ! — and though many of 
these direful things transpired, you did not become as- 
trologers. 

^'The Metric System" appeared with its advocate and its 
charts. Who can forget the graphic and exciting descrip- 
tion of "Smugglmg on the Maine Border," told by one of 
our number, a Government officer who had been detailed 
to suppress the evil? Chemistry and geology have not 
heen omitted as subjects to be dealt with. Botany and 



6 

physiology have been expatiated upon ; as lectures on the 
"Circulation of Sap," and the "Duality of the Brain," will 
vindicate. Upon zo-ology, of course, we have had many, 
many papers ; while each fresh contribution of bird or 
other animal, has called forth sundry and varied comments, 
queries!, and answers from ourselves, and then from the 
audiences, as they felt emboldened to join in the conver- 
sation. "The Geographical Distribution of Animals" has 
been lectured upon ; and dry as the subject would ap- 
pear to be, the expressions of interest taken in it were 
earnest, and a continuation of the topic was asked. What 
eminently entertaining subjects one well-known Univer- 
sity ex-president has chosen to bring us, and what beau- 
ty of language his pen throws around them ! 

By referring to these few of the many papers presented 
to the Institute in this way, its members may see what a 
variety of sciences has come in for a share of attention, — 
the science of life, of matter, of force, of space, and of 
time. What of the science of mind? and the science of 
society? No lectures on psychology, the real science of 
the mind, on logic, or on philology, to my knowledge 
have been delivered. And yet T do remember one on 
"Truth" by Professor Kinsman ; therefore you are asked 
to mentally supply where this hurriedly made list is defi- 
cient. A most delightfully attractive course of talks in 
the first of these sciences might be laid out, however, by 
starting the questions : W^hat is reason ? What is in- 
stinct? next, by comparing the workings of instinct in 
animals and man with reason working in man ; and, fi- 
nally, by considering whether reason could be predicated 
of animals, and in what degree. 

The science of society has received notice. Again and 
again have lectures been offered on the early history of 
the neighboring towns, as Wells and Kenuebunk ; on York 
County, and on the State of Maine. These papers have 



had regard to the ancient residences and their inhabitants ; 
to ancient manners and cnstoms ; to the early history of 
discoveries, of minor events, of laws, of wars, &c. They 
have been a source of pleasure to not a few interested in 
preserving every remenil)rjince of those who lived 
where we now dwell. The science of political econ- 
omy has not been touched upon ; but has such a practical 
side to it, that it ought to be brought up forthwith. 

Educational addresses have been in abundance. The 
listeners have been carried by a reverend gentleman to 
"Rome;" have sat at the feet of "Lucretius" with a New 
York judge ; have caught glimpses of "German Student 
Life" from a Connecticut pastor ; have been brought 
home to America by a teacher to hear the "Classics De- 
fended," the "System of Public Schools Condemned," or 
"Industrial Education" upheld by a clergyman of this city. 
"Evolution," "Reconciliation between Science and Reli- 
gion," "Telegraphy," "Rome's Struggle against German 
Unity," occur as titles, which, with the others be- 
fore mentioned, will represent the varied nature and 
character that York Institute has allowed to the docu- 
ments and utterances which have proceeded from its mem- 
bers and invited friends. It is my candid belief, that a 
more interesting and instructive list of subjects for a gen- 
eral society like ours to consider, than the one which the 
records show this society to have made for itself during 
the last half dozen years, would be very hard to suggest. 
Read the records, to catch an idea of the way in which 
the broad, original scheme has been carried out. "On 
Drawing" and "On the Elements of the Perspective," On 
Comets," "On Magellanic Clouds," "On Leather," "On 
the Compass," "On Dualism in Nature," — but this part of 
my paper must be dismissed. Please complete it from 
your memories, and make the list a perfect one. 

While such an extended ransre has been noticeable in the 



s 

subjects presented, the intriTsioo of sectarfanistir in re- 
ligion, and partisanship in politics, has been avoided. 
No good reaso-n, therefore, could be brougbt forward by 
any elerg:yman or any iwlitician for not joining the soci- 
ety. There bave been offered as excuses for not l>elong- 
ing the sayings —I do not call then> reasons — that "alfi 
science was irreligious," that "York Institute was irreli- 
gious ;" but how can any but the most ignorant, foolish, 
or prejirdiced persons believe such nonsense. Is nofe 
theology itself a science? Even the parties raaknig sucb 
declarations must have suspected them to be false, and 
must have offered them on the ground that "a poor ex- 
cuse is better than none.'' 

These remarks upon the name of the soeiety, and this, 
brief glimi^se of its past work hastily sketched in part on- 
ly, pave the way to a consideration of its present and its 
future. 

The collections of variegated minerals and beautiful 
shells ; of rare coins and curious woods ; of ancient and 
modern news^^apers ; of books and pamphlets received 
from the Government, public officers and private citi- 
zens — notably, from the latter, the famous, but too little 
appreciated, Judge Thatcher Documents, the value of 
which is inestimable to a society like this ; — the striking 
mementoes of the different wars in which our nation has 
engaged, the other thousand and one things gathered from 
everywhere, and preserved by the society — ^these are here 
to-night completely surrounding you, to speak for them- 
selves, and to testify as plainly as inanimate things can, 
that York Institute has no intention of being anything 
but a permanent institution. It has come to stay. It is 
a fixed fact, absolute, sure. Its present is safe enough. 

Established in so old a part of the State there are 
special reasons why it should never be permitted to Ian- 



giiish. Change its $18,000 or $14,000 cash into five or 
ten times the sum, and see what good it will accomplish. 
There are urging, pressing matters to be settled now^ 
that must not be left for even the near future to decide. 
Pride should stimulate us, as one person, to gather now 
every trustwoilhy bit of information regarding the past 
history of the people of this county, everything relatino- 
to their social life ; .as their manners, dress, customs, suf- 
ferings, amusements, &c. These facts should not be left 
to die with those who possess them. They should be 
stored in the archives of this society, to furnish material 
for the future historian ; so that he may make an accurate 
and faithful picture of what the life in this part of the na- 
tion once was. Without doubt New England soon will 
begin to seem to the young, growing West, about .-is an- 
cient as Old England does to us. There are o-entlemen 
present who should help in this work of gatherino- histor- 
ical facts and I will venture, with some diffidence, to suo-- 
gest how help can be given. 

We are in the center of a population of twenty thou- 
sand souls. Our county will embrace perhaps sixty-five 
thousand. Let these figures cause us to realize the im- 
portance of doing well the work contemplated ; since the 
work is harder when done to please so many. The suo-. 
gestion in this : Let these gentlemen whose memories o-q 
back the farthest jot down in note-books or diaries thinos 
worthy of remembrance, and donate to this society their 
personal records of men, places and events, with whom 
and with which they have been familiar. There should be 
passed a law, if nothing else will secure the end desired, 
that no man shall die tvith an uncomniunicated historical 
fact in his possession ! 

Having one such foct in keeping, I am eager to divultre 
it, in order that my freedom to "depart in peace" may 
not be interfered with. 



10 

Haifa dozen years since, I received in answer to some 
questions of mine, a letter from a fine, old gentleman, a 
gentleman of more than ninety years, and filled with the 
spirit of the days gone by. Among the several things nf 
which he wrote, was this, which you will be likely to 
think worth knowing, and worth saving. 

I had asked him if he remembered when Washington 
died . He wrote : 

"Yes, sir, I remember very well when he died ; and the 
day he was buried they had an imitation funeral in Saco. 
They formed a procession and carried a coffin by four men 
as underbearers, with pall-bearers marching by their side. 
It was the style in those days. They m;irched to the old 
meeting-house that stood on the Common (where a school- 
house now stands) of which" (referring to the church) "I 
think Gov. Fairfield's grandfather was then the pastor ; 
and they had a funeral sermon and other services. I and 
other boys wore black crape on the arm that day." 

Reflect a little, and it will not cause wonder that the 
boy's memory retained such an event, A funeral with a 
sermon is common enough now. The unusual circum- 
stance would be its omission. But "formerly no religious 
services whatever were held at funerals. The first prayer 
at a funeral in Boston was in 1766, and the first funeral 
sermon was as late as 1783." So says the Hon. Robert 
C. Winthrop. 

Now, ladies and gentlemen, please produce the divers 
scraps of history, quaint, odd and charming, that you 
happen to have, and free your minds for the benefit of 
all concerned. 

Some time back was mentioned "the future historian ;" 
but the fact is, the society needs an historian now. The 
future never comes. The historian should be even now 
busy treasuring up and arranging his items for the full 
history of the county. Moreover, he should be a man 



11 

heartily in sympathy with the people of the region, not a 
stranger eager for pelf. He shonld be wealthy enough to 
be practically above want. If he would accept the posi- 
tion, it would not be difficult to designate him. 

Again, York Institute should be the depository of other 
historical facts. So long as questions in early Maine his- 
tory are unsettled, this society will be needed, to help 
discover the truth, and to stand by it boldly. Why so? 
Because, if for no other reason, this is the oldest part of 
the State permanently settled ; because, if here where her 
history almost begins, we have no concern or pride in the 
matter, no one else can be blamed for indifference towards 
the glorious State whose motto is the proudest: "Dirigo," 
"I direct." You see these things will forge to the front. 
The early history of our State must be written, and writ- 
ten aright, and of all other counties in the land the 
county that held within its limits the Jii^st duly incorpor- 
ated city 071 thiis continent, ought to have something to 
say about the manner in which this history should be 
written ; ought to feel an enthusiasm, a spirit about it, 
that would assert just claims and maintain them until 
granted. 

York Institute, as this county's historic society, has 
certainly a ver}^ important duty and an excellent oppor- 
tunity without searching further. These it must not 
shirk. 

"Talk up Maine, if you Please" is an article in one of 
our local papers of recent date, and it will bear repetition. 
"In the first place, Maine stands fourth among the thirty- 
eight states in the number of water-wheels and the amount 
of water-power she has in use. In her quarrying indus- 
tries she ranks first in grranite and third in slate, beius: 
exceeded in the latter only by Pennsylvania and Vermont. 
In shipbuilding she is third in the list, outranking all the 
States with the exception of New York and Pennsylvania, 



12 

Her fisheries are fourth in importance, being only ex- 
ceeded by Massachusetts, New York and Maryland. Her 
production of manufactured lural)er is only exceeded by 
six states — New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, 
Michigan and Wisconsin. In paper manufacture she is 
sixth in importance, being exceeded by Massachusetts, 
Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio. In the 
production of tanned leather she is fourth, being out- 
ranked by Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania. 
In the manufacture of boots and shoes she is fifth in im- 
portance, being exceeded by New Hampshire, Massachu- 
setts, Rhode Island and Connecticut ; and in the manu- 
facture of woolen goods and mixed textiles she ranks 
seventh, being exceeded by the last mentioned states to- 
gether with New York and Penusylvania." 

Let there be added to this short piece the following: 
In the total amount of water-power she is first of all. She 
has so many lakes as to have been termed the "Lake State." 
She is the mother of the "Maine Liquor Law." She is in 
intelligence the whitest State in the Union ! Talk up 
Mahie, if you please. Yes, Maine needs good words 
spoken of her. Her sons should speak for her nobly. 
Hitherto, as a rule, they have been too modest by half. 
In a world where nothing is lost by boldness and cunning, 
modest worth is apt to be slighted. What has been re- 
corded may be "a survival of the fittest," it is quite as like- 
ly to be "a survival of the brassiest," or the smartest. 
Let me refer to some of these historical matters too little 
talked of, and too much kept in the back-ground. Enter 
one of the Grammer schools of — : — city. Take the 
United States History. Here is one. Opening at page 
18th we find the words "Puritans, 1620," and "Plymouth 
Colony" filling the entire space called by the U. S. Gov- 
ernment the "Gulf of Maine." The last name is not down. 
Besides, all the settlements made ou the coast of Maine 



are completely ignored. But examine the map more 
-closely. At first glance, you try to satisfy yourself that 
the omissions are because it is a map of permanent settle- 
•Dients merely ; but no. You will tind in conspicuous 
type the names of even ordinary discoverers of lands and 
islands, head-lands and straits. Then, if it was injustice 
not to mention any of the early settlements in Maine, one 
as early as 1607, and others before 1620, is it not a double 
injustice that in a map including early discoveries also, 
not the slightest attention is paid to the repeated and no- 
table discoveries on the Maine coast? In history one ex- 
pects fair play. It is not always obtained, however, with- 
out trouble. 

On page 38th, in a foot-note of three lines, is a mere 
mention of the "Popham Colony." It got in by squeezing. 
It has also squeezed into the revised edition of Bancroft's 
History of the United States. It has been a fact fighting 
for its life for recognition. It has won. It is now an 
acknowledged fact. You may soon expect to see 
■"Temaquid" in the histories. On page 41st no notice is 
taken of Gosnold's visit to Maine ; but his trip to Cape 
Cod our Massachusetts friends will find inserted. How 
rejoicing to those favoring "the truth, the whole truth, 
and nothing but the truth !" 

On page 42d you will detect an error: "Puritans set- 
tled at Plymouth" should be "Pilgrims settled at Plym- 
outh ;" and then a glaring mistake — "first English settle- 
ment in New England, Dec. 21st, 1620" — the fact being 
that the colony on the Kennebec antedated this by thir- 
teen vears ! Permanent settlements are elsewhere spoken 
of. 

Again, see page 53d, and read that Capt. John Smith 
"examined the coast from Penobscot to Cape Cod, drew a 
map of it (the famous 1614 map on which he put down 
"Plimouth" six years before the Pilgrims landed there,) 



14 

Jtnd called the cotnitry New England." Did he? A half^ 
Iriith is the worst sort of a falsehood. From the wordss^ 
would you j>ot infer that Smith named the country New 
England? Who did? It was first named New England 
by Sir Francis Drake, who was the fir&t, of whom we have 
any account, to set his foot upon its shore, in the year 
1586. Smith himself says : "New Engi^tnd is that part of 
America in the Ocean Sea opposite to Nova Albion, in 
the South Sea, discovered by the most memorable Sir 
Francis Drake, in his voyage about the world in regard 
whereof this is still stiled New Englmid" Says one : 
"The noble and generous-minded Smith, unlike Americus, 
would not permit or suffer his res^^ected friend and con- 
temporary to be deprived of any honor due to him in Ms- 
day ; and to this we may attribute the revival of the name 
New England in 1G14." 

Again, on page 55th of the school history, are you told 
that Samoset, the Indian who one day shouted to the 
Pilgrims, "Welcome, Englishmen!" was in truth Lord 
of Pemaquid? Pemaquid was in Maine. There was space 
enough on the page for a big picture of the scene and the 
words, "Plymouth, 1621 ;" but none for the discovery 
made by a distinguished member of the Maine Historical 
Society, and of this Institute, who was also at the time of 
his death a member of the Massachusetts Historical So- 
ciety, that San)08et was the veritable Lord of a tribe of 
Maine Indians He was a somebody, instead of a nobody. 
How came Samoset to speak his broken English ? or did 
you neglect to think about it? English has to be learned, 
even broken English, even single words. They come not 
by inspiration. Did not this Indian learn his English 
in Maine of Maine settlers? The date is 1621. They had 
been there. They, perhaps, were still there. Why not 
say it? This Indian's visit was a noteworthy one. It 
subsequently led to a visit of Massasoit, and later on to a 



15 

^eaty of fifty years. Fifty y«ars of peaoe do mu(;h to es- 
tablish a colony. 

On page 59th we read^ "The Bost(Mi colony hnilt a 
«hip the first year after its settle n:ient." That would he 
in 1H31. VVhy print tbe fact ; unless to give the im- 
pression that h-ere is the record of the first ship built on 
this continent by the English? One surely gets that im- 
pression especially when after diligently turning over the 
leaves, he finds nothing said of the building (Vf any other 
vessel The first English built ship was the "Virginia," 
and Fort Popham in Maine was the place. Give the 
Kennebec the glory, and Maine her due^ If either ves- 
sel sh(Hild be specified, why not the one of the two con- 
structed twenty-four years before the other? "It is the 
first step that costs." Shall we mention the ordinary, 
and shut out the extraordinar}^ ? Maine men are pleased 
that tlie Kennebec, celebrated for its fine vessels, was the 
pioneer in the art of American ship-building. 

On the same page, Sir William Phips is styled "royal 
governor of Massachusetts, Maine and Nova Scotia." 
Who, from the book, would know him to be Maine-born 
and bred? Was he the first and only native Ameri- 
can ever knighted ill England? Or were there two oth- 
ers — Maine Men? Isn't so strange an occurrence worth 
recording? Was he a Kenuebecker? Were they? 

Four lines on page 29th will explain to you in italics : 
'"Saint Augustine is the oldest town in the United States.''' 
Lower down you read that Santa Fd "is the second oldest 
town in the United States." The dates — I do not vouch 
for them — differ by seventeen years — 1565, and 1582. 
Now where are we to turn for a line or two about the first 
incorporated city in America, the city of Gorgeana, 
founded in 1641, a city of this county's past history? I 
should not have presumed to ask. It was a Maine city ; 
to be sure the first, but of no account. But why could 



w 

Hot space enough have been spared to include ft, if the 
list of tirst old things was to be a complete one? 

What State pride v^^ould ever be encouraged in the- 
Maine sehool-boy's mnid, if he had to rely solely on hi& 
United States history to tell hint what his State had been? 
celebrated for? Would be ever find it out? Legislators- 
might do much worse than insist upon a law compelling 
increased attention to the matters of mir State history. 
Teachers should be required to secure to their pupils by 
talks or text-books such information as will fully supply 
the deficiencies, and awaken a zeal and a love for home- 
surroundings. 

It is indeed grand to know that Maine men were the 
first by land to resist British tyrany in the Revolution. 

Says Sparks' American Biography ; "Most readers of 
American history give Massachusetts the honor of making 
the fir^t armed resistance to British rule in the Revolu- 
tion, at the battle of Lexington, fought April 19^th, 1775. 
But true history gives that credit to Maine. In 1774, 
John Sullivan, a kiwyer and a native of Berwick, Me., 
afterwards a distinguished general in the revolutionary war, 
raised a force and attacked Fort William and Mary in Ports- 
mouth harbor, which he captured and took possession of 
one hundred barrels of powder, fifteen cannon, and all the 
small arms and other stores. The ammunition was carried 
into the country, and part of it concealed under the pulpit 
of a church at Durham, N. H. This ammunition was used 
the next year at the battle of Bunker Hill. This was the 
first act of armed hostility committed in the colonies." 

It is indeed grand to know, that when the British 
flag was struck for the first time on the ocean to Ameri- 
cans, it was to the patriots of Machias, Maine, under the 
leadership of six brothers, the O'Briens. The ship was 
the Margaretta. Why not teach it? Will it hurt? How 
other States would boast of it ! 



17 

It is a matter of some pride for the lovers of the "Maine 
Liquor Law" to know, that the honor of making the first 
such law belongs to Pemaquid. September 11th, 1677, 
was the date of the council's order, which reads : 

"No Rum to be drank on this side the tiort stands." 
Is this in the boy's text-book? It is good enough to be. 

Massachusetts like a kind mother, gave us educational 
laws. We return our best thanks. They are good laws. 
Everything done in that State is spread upon the page of 
history in a bl.ize of light. But who expects to find at 
school in a book the bewildering, true statement that 
" Peinaquid was once the metropolis of all the region east 
of New York before Boston was settled? Boston was set- 
tled in 1630, only ten years after Plymouth; but Pema- 
quid was the metrojjolis — of all the region — before Bos- 
ton was settled ! Which was the mother then? It begins 
to look as if Massachusetts was the eldest daughter of 
Maine, and Maine somehow parent. Clearly Pemaquid 
with its paved streets may claim its antiquity as greater 
than Plymouth, But who ascertained the truth of the above 
statement? An honored member of this society and of the 
Massachusetts Historical Society, and his book Thornton's 
"Pemaquid" will amply repay one for its perusal. 

The first church service of the Pilgrim colony is put 
down as a notable event, but it was 7iot the first in New 
England by English settlers. The first church service in 
the region was in Maine, the year 1605, at Calais, and the 
second service was that of the Church of England, and it 
was in Maine, at Fort Popham in 1607. Should these 
things be deemed unworthy of record? 

Who saved the Pilgrims in that bitter winter of 1622, 
when food from the East was brought in a shallop ? Do 
you find an answer in the school history? Manna once 
fell from invisible hands to persons in dire distress, and 
there is no need of inquiring whose were the hands. But 



18 

here was food that saved a colony. Whose hands sent it? 
Elicit the truth ; even if it be that settlers of Pemaquid, 
Sheepscott Farms, Monbegan or elsewhere, were "the 
friends in need who were the friends indeed." 

Washington's riding up and down the lines after one of 
the hardest fought battles of the Revolution, and ex- 
claiming, "God bless the Massachusetts line," never fails 
to nerve the average Maine man when he for the iirst 
time discovers that the praise was bestowed on troops 
from York and Cumberland counties. And now my last 
question, on this point, comes to you? Does general his- 
tory point to the spot where the feet of the pioneers of 
English colonization first pressed American soil? No. 
It was the Isle of Monhegan. An unfortunate Maine island ! 
When starting on this paper I had no intention of instan- 
cing so many cases of neglect or of apparently wilful injust- 
ice to our good State ; but do you not agree, that as long 
as these things remain neglected, unrecognized and un- 
taught, this York Institute has a duty to perform of the 
highest character? Its duty is one of widespread publica- 
tion after patient, special and thorough investigation. 

There is another duty for the society, namely, to pre- 
serve facts regarding prominent people in the county. 

When a boy, one poem, almost a hymn in sentiment, 
used to affect me wonderfully. It seemed to swing me 
away out of myself, and has not yet lost its power. Its 
title was, 

TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO. 
Wake your harp's music ! — louder, — higher, 

And pour your strains along ; 
And smite again each quivering wire. 

In all the pride of song ! 
Shout like those godlike men of old, 

Who, daring storm and foe, 
On this blest soil their anthem rolled 
Two hundred years ago ! 



19 



From native shore by tempest driven, 

They sought a purer sky, 
And found, beneath a milder heaven, 

The home of Liberty ! 
An altar rose, — and prayers ; — a ray 

Broke on their night of woe, 
The harbinger of Freedom's day. 

Two hundred years ago ! 

They clung around that symbol, too. 

Their refuge and their all, 
And swore while skies and waves were blue, 

That altar should not fall. 
They stood upon the red man's sod, 

'Neath heaven's unpillared bow. 
With home, a country and a God, 

Two hundred years ago ! 

Oh ! 'twas a hard, unyielding fate 

That drove them to the seas, 
And Persecution strove with Hate, 

To darken her decrees ; 
But safe above each coral grave 

Each looming ship did go ; — 
And God was on the western wave. 

Two hundred years ago ! 

They knelt them on the desert sand. 

By waters cold and rude. 
Alone upon the dreary strand 

Of oceaned solitude ! 
They looked upon the high blue air 

And felt their spirits glow. 
Resolved to live or perish there, 

Two hundred years ago ! 

The warrior's red right arm was bared, 
His eyes flashed deep and wild ; — 

Was there a foreign footstep dared 
To seek his home and child ? 



20 



The dark chiefs yelled alarm, and swore 
The white man's blood should flow, 

And his hewn bones should bleach their shore. 
Two hundred years ago ! 

But lo! the warrior's eye grew dim. 

PI is arm was left alone, 
The still black wilds which sheltered him 

No longer were his own ! 
Time fled, and on the hallowed ground 

His highest pine lies low, 
And cities swell where forests frowned 

Two hundred years ago ! 

Oh ! stay not to recount the tale — 

'Twas bloody, and "tis past ; 
The firmest cheek might well grow pale, 

To hear it to the last. 
The God of Heaven who prospers us, 

Could bid a nation grow, 
And shield us from the red man's curse, 

Two hundred years ago ! 

Come, then, great shades of glorious men 

From your still glorious grave ; 
Look on your own proud land again, 

O bravest of the brave ! 
We call you from each mould'ring tomb, 

And each blue wave below. 
To bless the world ye snatched from doom. 

Two hundred years ago ! 

Then to your harps, — yet louder, — higher, 

And pour your strains along ! 
And smite again each quivering wire, 

In all the pride of song ! 
Shout like those godHke men of old. 

Who, daring storm and foe, 
On this blest soil their anthem rolled, 

Two hundred years ago ! 



21 

To my astonishment, I afterwards discovered that the 
author was a Biddeford boy, Grouville Mellen, a son of 
Chief Justice Prentiss Mellen, the poet who wrote the 
ode on Boston's two hundredth anniversary of settlement, 
the man who, in his time, "occupied a position ranch like 
that which Dr. Holmes fills now," and that he lies buried 
in a place utterly forgotten and unknown. What a shame 
that it should be so ! All his poems and all the facts of 
his life should be in the safe custody of this society. 
Here is a person dying as late as 1841, a man of letters, — 
for, besides writing poems for the leading magazines and 
annuiils, his books brought him into wide and favorable 
notice, — here he is — allowed to be dropped from memory ! 
I cannot leave him thus coldly. I plead for his fame, 
that it may not die. I give you the titles of his poems of 
note : In 1826, "The Rest of Empires," before the Peace 
Society at Portland ; in 1828, "The Light of Letters," be- 
fore the Athenaean Society of Bowdoin College ; in 1827, 
"Our Chronicles of Twenty-six ;" in 1833, "The Martyr's 
Triumph," "Buried Valley." He wrote a volume of 
prose, "Sad Tales and Glad Tales." He wrote an ode 
"The Pilgrim Fathers," for the New England Society's 
annual dinner in 1832, at New York. He wrote another 
ode for the New York Historical Society's banquet in 
1839. Have we these poems in our collection? Have 
we all the knowledge we should have of other distin- 
guished men and women of this county? York Insti- 
tute's duty is to save these men and women from oblivion. 
If any remissness has been in the past, let no charge of 
indifference and neglect stain the society's future. 

But what shall this future be? Of one thing I am cer- 
tain : it will exceed our present expectations greatly. 
Napoleon said : "Give me nine men and I will make a 
monarchy." The Institute has had its "nine men ;" and 



f:? 



w&iTe there may not be so vnst a result as a monnrchj 
ahead, it will surely be said of th^ra, that "they buildedJ 
Better than they knew." 

Most plans of the future it is well to hide. Metelius^ 
Pius, waging^ war in Spain, and being asked what he was^ 
going to do the next day, said:. "I would hum my tunicy. 
if it could tell." 

Acting under such a wise commsi'nder's advice I shall 
I'eave to more practised hands the delineation of what is- 
tn stare for this society. Something, however, may be 
predicted almost to a certainty. 

There will be a fire-proof building for York Institute- 
with a central hall twice as long as wide. There may be 
a gallery above, and side alcoves below. There will be 
a working-room for the preparation of specimens for the 
lectures, and a waiting-room for the lecturers themselves. 
There will be one microscope or more to allow an exami- 
nation of the structure of animals, minerals and plants. 
The collections of the society will be arranged so that 
they may be studied ; the books, documents and newspa- 
papers, especially placed where they may be easy to con- 
sult. Photographers will give occasionally pictures, hav- 
ing historic value. Money bequests to the society will be 
more frequent and generous. There will consequently 
be regular courses of lectures, and well-paid talent 
brought in. The library will have full sets of valuable 
historical publications, where now broken ones exist. 
People in the county will send us precious old deeds, 
old bills, pamphlets, pictures and books, instead of selling 
them for waste paper ; and the people in these two cities 
will, with unanimity of spirit, bestow liberal praise upon 
the efforts of this society. 

The York Corporation has ever been its staunch friend ; 
therefore let the building of the future be located upon 
this island. It will then also be in full sig'ht of all trav- 



^3 

elers enterln^^ and leaving Saco. Tt can then receive tlie 
visits and coutribntions of many of our summer visitors. 

In one case of valuables will be a few of our Maine 
•emeralds, also a few of the pearls from the Maine coast, 
:simi]ar to the one sold years ago to the Empress Eugenie 
for fifteen hundred dollars. Nearby, in the mineralogi- 
•cal section, will be very appropriately placed a bust of 
Professor Cleveland, of Bowdoin College, "the father of 
American minerahjgy." Opposite, among the birds, 
will be the familiar portrait of Audubon, a never failing 
reminder of the skill and deftness of one of our number, 
the artist. 

In the botanical department Maine's celebrated lady 
botanist will be represented by her portrait and by many 
of her beautiful water-color paintings of Maine wild flow- 
-ers. The Maine plant, Pedicularis Pui'hishae, named 
after her, will be there, the first pknt ever named in hon- 
or of a woman in America ■ 

A bust of the immortal Maine poet, Longfellow will 
meet the gaze of the visitor and remind him of the first 
American whose imperishable fame has won for him a 
place beside England's worthies in Westminster Abbey. 

And so I might go on with suggestions and specu- 
lations did time permit. 

In conclusion it may be asked : "Until this future is 
realized, upon what should the members of York Insti- 
tute chiefly rely?" Au incident will furnish a good an- 
swer, in lieu of a better one. 

While other peoples wore a foreign yoke, 

And prostrate lay beneath the conqueror's feet ; 

The Swiss, true scions of an ancient stock, 

Did their own freedom steadfastly maintain, 

And never bowed the knee to any prince, 

But freely chose the Roman Emperor's sheltering shield. 



24 



One Roman-Austrian sovereign thus received 
The ancient charters of the cantons in his hands. 
But when at Rheinfeld, at the Emperor's court, 
Swiss messengers from many towns were found, 
As was their wont in each new reign, to get 
And bring again their parchments duly signed, — 
With cold and empty comfort they were dismissed : 
"This time the Emperor had no leisure, but 
He'd think of them at some convenient season," 
Put off, rebuffed, to them Duke Hansen cried : 
'■'■Best help yourselves ! Best help yourselves /" 
'Twas echoed : ^'' Right and justice Uts in vain 
To look for from the Emperor. Help yourselves.'''' 
***** 

Then fought the Swiss for Switzerland. They "helped 
Themselves." One glorious struggle, and they all were 
free. 

So the members of this society will do best to culti- 
vjite self-reliance, and thus deserve the hiojhest success. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



III 



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